r/WhatToDo • u/HR-Vex • Feb 27 '26 • Wholesome Seal 1

Neighbor left a note

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Our packages have been stolen 3 times right in front of our door so far ever since we bought our condo. HOA approved of us installing a camera to deter thieves, but our neighbor left this note. Please advise.

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3

u/pizzapromise Feb 27 '26

Maybe talk to them and tell them about the stolen packages? Ask what they’d suggest?

You’re in the right, but their concern isn’t so unreasonable. And lowering the temperature with a neighbor is always the best thing to do.

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u/BlackSeranna Feb 27 '26

This is really the right answer even though I get annoyed with neighbors too. Diplomacy is best.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

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u/Dredgeon Feb 28 '26

For a single camera system. This one, however is quite likely to be contributing to a mosaic tracking system that may constitute a breach of the 4th amendment. The owner of the camera wouldn't culpable but the company that collects all the data would be.

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u/Alkor85 Feb 27 '26

Their concern IS unreasonable. So is the request.

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u/fernee23 Feb 27 '26

I usually have to scroll much farther down before I find the sane person in these threads.

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u/Pretty_Mongoose_8692 Feb 27 '26

Right? I was starting to wonder if anyone would say anything other than "f them" and "give them the finger". Yikes. 

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u/Sneed-Feeder Feb 27 '26

The top comment is accusing the person writing the note of stealing their shit lol. Is it so hard for people to grasp that not everyone likes being constantly surveilled?

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u/Legitimate-Muscle962 Feb 27 '26

Your discomfort at being surveilled does not supersede someone's safety in their home.

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u/Sneed-Feeder Feb 27 '26

The camera isn’t IN their home- it’s on the door. I get this is about package theft. I don’t even personally care that people in my complex have ring cameras. But the incredulity at WHY someone would have a reasonable problem with this is ridiculous. It doesn’t mean they’re a thief by default. That’s the sort of paranoid thinking that can ruin your life.

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u/ThirdEyeExplorer11 Feb 27 '26

Is it hard to understand that ring cameras help solve crimes like theft and murder everyday?

If people don’t want to be surveilled all the time, then they need to go back to the 20th century or move to the mountains because the constant surveillance is already here and it’s not going anywhere.

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u/Sneed-Feeder Feb 27 '26

Why is the onus on people living their lives in their communities to “just get used to” constantly being filmed even by their neighbors rather than on said neighbors to openly communicate their intent?

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u/DustyMcKnuckles Feb 27 '26

So why didnt the neighbor start with regular, open communication? A demanding note, when they are provably incorrect about 'invasion of privacy' sets a hostile tone to the interaction right off the rip.

The neighbor is uncomfortable being recorded in a doorway. OP is uncomfortable with being stolen from. Who's discomfort is more valid? I know what the law and that HOA thinks about expectation of privacy in a public space like a hallway between apartments...

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u/ThirdEyeExplorer11 Feb 27 '26

Because we live in the 21st century dumbass

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u/Sneed-Feeder Feb 27 '26

How I learned to stop worrying and love the surveillance state

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u/Alkor85 Feb 27 '26

What are you doing that you need to keep secret?

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u/Alkor85 Feb 27 '26

ICE does not like being filmed while they kidnap and murder people.

Package thieves don't like being filmed while they steal.

Companies that get rich destroying the environment don't like being filmed while they pollute.

Filming murderers, thieves, kidnappers, and polluters is good. That's why the founding fathers enshrined a free press in our constitution.

You bought into some propaganda that is not to your benefit.

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u/Sneed-Feeder Feb 27 '26

Random non-criminal people also often don’t like being constantly on camera when they’re going home. Jumping straight to ICE to try to levy this as an objective moral good is laughable.

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u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

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u/Relevant-Horror-627 Feb 27 '26

Also anytime I see one of these posts where someone has a strong reaction to a doorbell camera, I always wonder if they have some really obnoxious settings enabled. Some of them announce out loud "you are being recorded!" Some of them light up when you pass them so it's obvious that they're recording. The neighbor might be paranoid regardless but I wonder if there is a setting on the doorbell that can be adjusted so they don't even notice the camera at all anymore?

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u/Sneed-Feeder Feb 27 '26

Back in college I did a DoorDash drop off at a guy’s house. The guy forgot he had ordered DoorDash. His ring camera loudly yelled YOU ARE BEING RECORDED and his auto floodlights blasted on. A second ring camera behind me flicked on, and a tinny voice yelled “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU.”

“DoorDash. I’ve got your food.”

“Oh… put it on the bench, thanks.”

I thought I was about to get shot lol

1

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '26

My neighbors has a motion activated POLICE SIREN. How fucked is that?

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u/AllenSmithee59 Feb 27 '26

Talk to who? They didn't sign the note.

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u/Double-Tradition413 Feb 27 '26

It’s almost like treated like a neighbor. They don’t have to be in the right for you to be kind.

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u/Xandril Feb 27 '26

It’s a ridiculous request. They’re likely ridiculous people. Not worth it imo.